Learn about the resilient communities in Central America combatting climate change through grassroots organizing. Lewis will screen his short film “Keepers of the Future” about the social movement our partners have built in El Salvador, and Solnit will speak about organizing in the face of global challenges. Guests will have the opportunity to meet and mingle with both speakers at the event. Come enjoy delicious Salvadoran food, drinks at the open bar, lively beats, and good company, too.

EcoViva is an Oakland-based nonprofit that works with Central American partners to protect the environment and improve quality of life for rural communities.

DSA, the Democratic Socialists of America, has seen a massive influx of new members in the few weeks since the election.

Here in the East Bay and across the country thousands of people have committed to building a left alternative that demands material improvements in our lives.

DSA is dedicated to fighting for single-payer healthcare, tuition-free college, a living wage for all workers, and an end to white supremacy.

We are coming together to oppose the emboldened right wing, protect our targeted brothers and sisters, and build a future that puts people above profit.

Join us on Saturday, December 10th to learn how DSA East Bay is organizing locally. Meet new members, plug into opportunities for action, and enjoy a potluck among friends. Former mayor of Berkeley (and Bernie Sanders surrogate) Gus Newport will speak.

This event is open to new members, old members, friends, family, and anyone who is interested in DSA.

DSA is open to a wide spectrum of beliefs (at least on the left) and you certainly do not need to identify as socialist to attend or participate.

We need people to volunteer to bring food, beverages and utensils, and setup/breakdown the meeting space! To sign up, please follow this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UD8wvboYTEAZKvZaRxGIZrhDVAZpRRYb2PQf54e9sVw/edit#gid=0

Here’s the agenda:

1. Info about DSA. What has happened over the last month and where we’re going
2. Speech by Gus Newport (former Mayor of Berkeley)
3. Breakout sessions for members and non-members
Break
5. Campaigns info
6. Committee info sessions
7. Food/celebration

Note: The building has a security door. There will be someone at the door between 9:45 and 10:15. If you arrive later than that text (510) 776-9291 and someone will come let you in.

*** If you’re not yet a member of DSA, but want to be, you can join here: https://dsausa.nationbuilder.com/join

Mass Organizing Meeting for Jan. 20 SF Protest on Day of Trump’s Inauguration

Dec 10 @ 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Volunteer and help build the fightback movement against Trump!

Join us for a mass organizing meeting to build for the Jan. 20 protest on the day of Trump’s inauguration.

You can also join an outreach session Tuesdays between 5:30 and 7:30pm or contact us and let us know when you are available. No experience is necessary! We need help making phone calls, putting up posters, handing out flyers, painting banners and making signs.

Come by any time to pick up flyers and posters or to help out. Only an organized people’s movement can push back the Trump program of racism, sexism and war! Join us!

Please Invite all of your friends (After going to the invite window clicking on past events will enable you to invite all friends from that event.) , share with groups, text blast, and email friends to outreach for the organizing. Feel free to copy and paste the details of this event.

We will gather to discuss organizing a General Strike in Oakland (Ohlone Land) on #J20 and or during the Trump presidency. We will have a general discussion about what that would look like then break out into several committees to organize media, outreach, logistics, etc.

The conversation will center working class black and brown voices but everyone is welcome to speak and share their thoughts and skills!

The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (In prior years we have agreed to meet at 4:00 PM during summer hours, that is, once Daylight Savings Time goes back into effect).

On every last Sunday we meet a little earlier at 2 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.

OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over five years! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally. Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.

At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.

General Assembly Standard Agenda

Welcome & Introductions

Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations

Announcements

(Optional) Discussion Topic

Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.

You’re invited to the 2016 Bill of Rights Day when we celebrate the goals we’ve achieved together and look ahead to even greater challenges.

We know that you may be concerned about the presidential election results. Many of the proposed policies are unlawful and unconstitutional. The ACLU is swinging into high gear, ready for whatever awaits us.

Since our founding, we’ve worked together to defend the constitutional rights and freedoms of all Californians. Rest assured we’ll continue to do so. We’ve got your back!

On the 60th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution:
Humanism vs. fascism, opposing capitalism then and now

Hailed by Martin Luther King, Jr., Hungarian revolutionaries in 1956 not only created a new form of direct democracy in Workers’ Councils but raised Marx’s humanism as freedom from Communism. “The goal of human development, the form of human society,” which Marx had warned is not communism, took center stage against the single-party-state.

Today various forms of humanism, from Black Lives Matter to Prisoners’ Human Rights Movement, also project humanism as an answer to global capitalism. Can Marx’s humanism help our age in is search for a way to unite the idea of freedom with a new post-capitalist reality? (see “Spontaneity of action and organization of thought. In memoriam: Hungarian Revolution”, Nov-Dec N&L at newsandletters.org)

This workshop for APTP comrades supports the resilience and wellbeing of front line change-makers, justice seekers, organizers, and activists.

Together we will explore:

• How to keep alive and vital that place within us where the motivation to work for social change arises

• How to not only “keep on keeping on,” but to keep on in a way that is transformative for us as individuals, for the organization, the movement, and the community

• How to stay connected to the larger vision and purpose that inspires, uplifts, and sustains each of us to be our best and most whole selves in every area of our lives

• How to process and clear trauma

The workshop will be held in Shelton Hall of the Oakland Peace Center (OPC).

This is the building of the First Christian Church of Oakland (the big white church at the corner of Fairmount Ave and 29th St.) You will need to enter through the glass office door via the parking lot (enter parking lot from Fairmount Ave). Please arrive early if possible. After 7pm the door will be locked and you can text the number posted to be let in.

The Oakland Tenants Union is an organization of housing activists dedicated to protecting tenant rights and interests. OTU does this by working directly with tenants in their struggle with landlords, impacting legislation and public policy about housing, community education, and working with other organizations committed to furthering renters’ rights. The Oakland Tenants Union is open to anyone who shares our core values and who believes that tenants themselves have the primary responsibility to work on their own behalf.

Monthly Meetings

The Oakland Tenants Union meets regularly at 7:00 pm on the second Monday evening of each month. Our monthly meetings are held in the Community Room of the Madison Park Apartments, 100 – 9th Street (at Oak Street, across from the Lake Merritt BART Station). To enter, gently knock on the window of the room to the right of the main entrance to the building. At the meetings, first we focus on general issues affecting renters city-wide and then second we offer advice to renters regarding their individual concerns.

If you have an issue, a question, or need advice about a tenant/landlord issue, please call us at (510) 704-5276. Leave a message with your name and phone number and someone will get back to you.

This month we had a conflict so the meeting will be held on the second Monday, December 12th at 7 PM at the Niebyl-Proctor Library.

The Oscar Grant Committee Against Police Brutality & State Repression (OGC) is a grassroots democratic organization that was formed as a conscious united front for justice against police brutality. The OGC is involved in the struggle for police accountability and is committed to stopping police brutality.

Note: At our November meeting we changed our meeting date from the first Tuesday of the month to the first Monday, starting January 2nd.

Join us to fight for a livable wage for all Bay Area workers! We collaborate in principled reflection and action on what the Bay Area livable wage would be and where we are at on the right to a livable wage.

The Oakland Livable Wage Assembly builds Community and Power among those who seek higher wages and better work life conditions for area workers.

Our work together encompasses:

(1) The concerns of precarious, care and contingent workers,
(2) Campaigns to improve wages for low wage workers, and
(3) Efforts by unionized workers and unions to improve wages and quality of work life.

We share stories and information in an egalitarian and participatory way to build relationships and build the movement.

This year, Oakland’s Anti Police-Terror Project is calling on our Bay Area community to up the resistance level, as we reclaim the radical legacy of Martin Luther King and resist the fascist Trump agenda. This year the Reclaiming King’s Radical Legacy March on Monday (1/16) will launch 120 hours of direct action, culminating on #HellNawGuration Day (1/20). This year we are focused on immigrant rights, protection of our Muslim brothers and sisters, womens reproductive rights, loving our LGBTQ sisters, brothers and siblings, and the defense of Black life.

As is our custom, we will host a Spokescouncil meeting to plan and coordinate actions in the SF Bay Area. PLEASE SAVE THE FOLLOWING DATES in your calendar.

A spokescouncil is a collective framework for direct action mobilizations, where large masses of people organize themselves into smaller teams called “affinity groups”. Affinity groups plan their actions independently with the intention of advancing the larger goal of the spokescouncil. Affinity groups are represented by at least one person (“a spoke”) at the meetings, where they are able to share resources and coordinate their actions with other groups.

Why a spokescouncil?

We propose the spokescouncil as a solution to many of the shortcomings of unstructured mass assemblies. We intend to provide a highly structured organizing space with clear tactical and messaging guidelines, that empowers participants to organize independently and in parallel. We intend to inspire a multitude of diverse actions and awaken the massive potential we have as a community engaging in direct action.

** for questions or more information about the spokescouncil please contact aptpspokescouncil@gmail.com

Casino San Pablo makes millions. Its workers are struggling to get out of poverty. This holiday season, stand with them!

Casino San Pablo made $263 million* in FY 2014-15. But its workers make as little as $11 per hour – less than the minimum wage in nearby towns like Richmond, El Cerrito and Oakland. And the Casino’s proposed raise for its lowest-paid workers in 2017 is just 22 cents per hour!

State labor laws don’t apply at the Casino, so workers are denied many of the basic rights that other California workers take for granted – from California workers’ compensation benefits to a smoke-free workplace. And the Casino’s contract only provides for 3 months of medical leave – so workers can be fired if they need more time to recover from surgery or childbirth.

Workers are standing up to demand the Casino do better. Join them!
In Solidarity, UNITE HERE Local 2850

Urban Shield is a regional, national and global weapons exposition and SWAT training. It is funded by the Department of Homeland Security via the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department. Every year, local police, fire and health departments from cities all over the Bay Area (and a few foreign countries) come together to perform drills and practices throughout the region, all mandated to have a nexus to terrorism.

By focusing the majority of the training given to local departments on extremely violent responses, Urban Shield immerses local SWAT teams in war-like practices and encourages disproportionately violent responses. Urban Shield events are filled with disturbing themes including macho t-shirts disparaging social justice movements (the best-selling one a few years ago was called “Black Rifles Matter”), glorification of hi-tech military-style equipment flowing into local police departments including tanks and drones, and scenarios triggered almost inevitably by people of color as the villains.

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